X-Message-Number: 7543
Date: 21 Jan 97 21:00:22 EST
From: Paul Wakfer <>
Subject: Prometheus Project Correspondence

As I wrote this reply to a private inquiry from postings that I recently
sent to several newsgroups, I realized that I was expressing things quite
differently than I had before and that my reply might be interesting to
readers of CryoNet.

>Re: Prometheus Project Aims at Suspended Animation

>This sounds fascinating. 

Yes, I believe that it is extremely exciting. Thanks for responding. Would
you mind telling me on which newsgroup you saw my post?

>i) Is this a commercial proposition, or a research programme?

It is essentially a research program. However, as with any research there
is potential for profit to be made from useful inventions and processes
which come out of the research. With this project, in the very long run
there is enormous profit potential. The Project is being privately
subscribed to (way too far out for governments or even large corporations)
and will be conducted by a nominally for-profit corporation. Any useful
inventions, processes or perfusates will be patented so that any eventual
profits will accrue to those who have pledged and purchased shares in the
corporation. The reason why this project is not being promoted as a
standard bio-tech R&D start-up is because there is no near term specific
product likely possible and therefore, the normal possibility/expectancy
for major shareholder gain within the near term (5 years) is missing.
Instead, the Prometheus Project is a very long term project with a very
large payoff potential both in terms of money and in terms of your own
personal chance for vastly extended life.


>ii) How is this connected (if at all) to the cryonics movement
>(freeze-you-when-you-are-dead)

Basically, it is an attempt to finally do the research necessary to show
that the cryonics idea can work. To any scientific/medical person it is
clear that most people who are currently declared dead at the end of an
agonal process could be revived to live a few more hours or days. This is
not done because it would be pointless and inhumane to extend the suffering
and generally very poor quality of life of the terminal patient. However,
even under the best of circumstances (gaining access to a terminal patient
who could still be revived), the process of cryopreservation does a great
deal of additional damage before the patient ends up in true stasis
immersed in liquid nitrogen (where all scientists agree no more damage is
possible for hundreds of years - so long as the patient remain safely
immersed).
      Cryonicists have been too busy trying to sell the idea that "our
friends of the future" will cure what was killing the patient, will fix up
the cryopreservation damage, and will reverse the patient's aging to boot. 
While eventually, all these things may well be possible and done routinely,
I believe that we should be trying to do them one at a time, not all
together. Standard medical research is concentrating on curing disease
processes. Preventative medicine is concentrating on eliminating their
occurrence. Anti-aging medicine, which has recently started to grow much
stronger, is concentrating on understanding, halting and reversing the
aging process, ie. treating it too as a disease process. Cryonicists should
be concentrating on doing the research necessary to reduce and eliminate
the additional damage which is done during the cryopreservation process, so
that, at least for a young, healthy mammal, this process is fully
reversible. That is the goal of the Prometheus Project. For its success, it
does not require that all diseases have been conquered or that aging has
been eliminated and rejuvenation perfected. It will be applicable to anyone
who is about to die prematurely of some specific disease process which
might likely be curable in the near future.

     If you have not done so, you should look at the Prometheus project web
site. Many more details are given there.


-- Paul --

Paul Wakfer
email:  phone:909-481-9620  pager:800-805-2870

HELP TO ACHIEVE - PERFECTED SUSPENDED ANIMATION WITHIN 20 YEARS!

Check out the Prometheus Project web site at URL:
http://www.prometheus-project.org/prometheus/


Rate This Message: http://www.cryonet.org/cgi-bin/rate.cgi?msg=7543